1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a robot system and more particularly, is suitably applied to a modular robot which is constructed by connecting multiple component units (parts).
2. Description of the Related Art
As this type of robot system, robot systems having various constructions have been proposed in the journals such as Japan Patent Laid Open No. 25858/72, Japan Patent Laid Open No. 205292/84, xe2x80x9cRobot Models for Space Environmentxe2x80x9d (R. O. Ambrose and C. G. Ambrose, IEEE International Conference on RandA, 1995 pp.2113-2131), xe2x80x9cThe Concept and Construction of a Modular Robot Systemxe2x80x9d (K. H. Wurst Proc of 16th ISIR, 1986, pp.37-44) and xe2x80x9cConceptual Design of a Modular Robotxe2x80x9d (R. Cohen et.al Journal of Mechanical Design, 1992 vol. 114 pp.117-125).
Furthermore, according to xe2x80x9cA Study on the Construction of Modular Manipulator, the Method of Design Recognition and Operable/Unoperable Judgmentxe2x80x9d (Takafumi Matsumaru et.al Journal of Japan Robotic Association, 1997 vol.15 No.3, pp.408-416), in the modular manipulator which can be constructed by connecting the joint module and link module freely, the method to automatically recognize its construction and to make it perform practical and useful operation immediately after it is assembled is disclosed.
However, all of these literatures are written supposing a manipulator (mechanical arm), so that it has caused problems in applying various methods disclosed in these literatures to the robot in which a component unit is branched off into two or more component units and connected.
In practice, in the robot system which can be assembled to various kinds of configurations by attaching various kinds of component units such as a head, arms, legs, and wheels to a body unit as desired condition, such as a four-foot walking type as shown in FIG. 1A, a two-foot walking type as shown in FIG. 1B, a vehicle type as shown in FIG. 1C, or a 2-wheel driven type as shown in FIG. 1D, although the robot is so constructed that it can automatically recognize the overall construction at the stage when it is assembled, the robot can not determine which unit will be used as xe2x80x9carmxe2x80x9d and which unit will be used as xe2x80x9clegxe2x80x9d, or the robot is constructed as the two-foot walking type or four-foot walking type. Therefore, it is difficult for the robot to perform actions according to its configuration immediately after it is assembled.
Accordingly, unless otherwise these problems are solved, the robot can not perform actions corresponding to the configuration of the robot without conducting the work such as inputting programs corresponding to the configuration of the robot assembled, and the assembly work of the modular robot cannot be simplified.
In view of the foregoing, an object of this invention is to provide a robot system in which the assembly work can be simplified.
The foregoing object and other objects of the invention have been achieved by the provision of a modular robot system which comprises memory means for memorizing task information on tasks of component units in respective component units and recognition means for reading out the task information from the memory means of each component unit and recognizing the task of the component unit based on the task information read out.
Therefore, in this robot system, even if the user does not give a task of each component unit, the robot itself can recognize the task of each component unit at the stage when it is assembled, so that the robot system in which the assembly work is simplified can be realized.
Furthermore, in the present invention, the modular robot system comprises linkage condition detection means for detecting the linkage condition of each component unit, memory means for memorizing the linkage condition of each component unit in every category, of which the configuration of robot system to be constructed is classified into multiple categories according to the linkage condition of each component unit, and judgment means for judging to which category the constructed robot system belongs based on the linkage condition of each component unit detected by the linkage condition detection means and the linkage condition of each component unit for each category memorized by the memory means.
Therefore, this robot system automatically recognizes its own configuration even if the user does not inform the robot system of its configuration and thus, the robot system in which the assembly work is simplified can be realized.
The nature, principle and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts are designated by like reference numerals or characters.